Leakage from a Cluttered Mind

Before leaving Lake Tahoe, Mark wanted the girls to experience a hike as we have normally done on all of our family vacations. Annmarie wanted to come, but the baby on the way made such a hike an unwise choice. Here they are all ready to charge up the trail at the Alpine Springs trailhead.

It didn’t take long before Cortnie was losing interest. Even though the trail was wide and level, she began to think of it as hard and was lagging behind, walking slower and slower.

First, we tried encouraging. Then we tried a little bribe. These did not really change her motivation.

Mark finally hit on a winner of an idea. “Hey, Cortnie! We need a scout. Get up in front and lead the way. See what’s up ahead and tell us which way to go.” With this responsibility, her motivation shot up, her hiking speed increased, and she stopped complaining. There’s a leadership principle here, and Cortnie is discovering that being in front, and leading the way is fun and motivating.

Cortnie also discovered that leading is hard. Great destinations (or goals) aren’t usually easy to get to, and leading people there is physically demanding and mentally challenging (which trail branch is the right one?).

Not only is leading hard, sometimes it’s scary. This water crossing was across a log. There’s a 4 foot drop below to the creek.

There is a wonderful sense of accomplishment after pushing through the hard and scary times. This is the reward for leading.

While this was the final photo I have, it is not the end of the story. Along with the challenge, and fulfillment, and joy of leadership comes risk. It is a difficult lesson to learn, but you cannot be an effective leader without being willing to deal with failure. On the way back down the trail, Cortnie made one mis-step, and came crashing down into a painful 3 point landing (2 palms and 1 knee) on the rocky trail. The fall hurt, and then the clean-up hurt some more.

Cortnie never realized she was gaining any leadership lessons and perhaps that’s the best kind of childhood learning. What other suggestions do you have for teaching children principles of leadership?